Nearly three weeks after the Rajasthan High Court ordered BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena to surrender, and two weeks following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of his petition, the Assembly membership of the Anta MLA was officially terminated on Friday.
Meena surrendered before the Manohar Thana court in Jhalawar district on May 21, after the two-week relief period granted by the Supreme Court expired. Following this, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani issued a notification stating that Meena’s membership was revoked effective from the date of his conviction. Meena had been sentenced to three years imprisonment in a 2005 case involving the threat of a public official with a revolver.
The termination came on the same day when Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully filed a petition in the High Court, criticizing the delay in disqualifying Meena. The Congress has accused Speaker Devnani of bias, pointing to repeated requests made to the Speaker, the Chief Secretary, the Election Commission, and the Governor to expedite the process. Jully remarked, “It took 23 days to uphold the Constitution, which should have been followed immediately. We struggled to get justice.”
Responding to the allegations, Devnani stated that once the Advocate General’s legal opinion was received at 10:30 am on Friday, Meena’s disqualification was announced. He emphasised that he operates independently, making decisions strictly based on law and justice after thorough examination of the matter. Devnani urged the Congress party to refrain from politicizing the issue.
The case stems from a 2005 incident when Meena allegedly threatened Ramniwas Mehta, then a RAS officer and Sub Divisional Officer of Aklera, with a revolver during a sarpanch election re-poll demand in Manohar Thana, Jhalawar. Meena reportedly threatened Mehta to announce a re-poll within two minutes or face death. Mehta, now an IAS officer serving as Secretary of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission, had stated that “a revolver can kill but not enforce a re-poll.”
Meena’s disqualification reduces the Rajasthan Assembly's strength to 199. His seat in Baran’s Anta constituency is now officially vacant. The BJP’s strength falls to 118 MLAs, while Congress has 66, alongside several other smaller parties and independents.
Meena was disqualified under Article 191(1)(e) of the Indian Constitution and Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which bars legislators sentenced to over two years in prison from holding membership.
